09-03-2017, 07:08 PM
I agree, Red Zone and Batman & Robin for megadrive have some effects that I can't figure how to replicate with tilengine...
When I designed tilengine I was pursuing the raster effects thing, but I didn't want to replicate other limitations artificially. There are many areas where tilengine is much more friendly to work with -I should make a list-, but it inherits features that were used for creative effects, as the per-column vertical offset or tile-based priority.
I'm working in the lacking documentation, when I finish it i have to give a look to the pico-8. This system, as a standard, is good for creativity: everybody works with the same resolution, colors, sounds and processing power. You have a finite set of choices that forces you to be creative and efficient. This was one of the big great points of 8-bit home computers: fixed restrictions for everybody. The other was accessibility to programming: power on, take the manual and start making experiments.
In today's systems it's easy to get lost: an endless sea of possibilities, no fixed limitations, stacks of abstraction layers, countless languages, engines and development environments... too much freedom is not always good for creativity and getting focused.
When I designed tilengine I was pursuing the raster effects thing, but I didn't want to replicate other limitations artificially. There are many areas where tilengine is much more friendly to work with -I should make a list-, but it inherits features that were used for creative effects, as the per-column vertical offset or tile-based priority.
I'm working in the lacking documentation, when I finish it i have to give a look to the pico-8. This system, as a standard, is good for creativity: everybody works with the same resolution, colors, sounds and processing power. You have a finite set of choices that forces you to be creative and efficient. This was one of the big great points of 8-bit home computers: fixed restrictions for everybody. The other was accessibility to programming: power on, take the manual and start making experiments.
In today's systems it's easy to get lost: an endless sea of possibilities, no fixed limitations, stacks of abstraction layers, countless languages, engines and development environments... too much freedom is not always good for creativity and getting focused.